


Diamond City Confessional

by migratorycat



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Confession, F/M, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26521108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/migratorycat/pseuds/migratorycat
Summary: When Nick takes the Sole Survivor aside with plans to confess his feelings, they give each other exactly what they'd hoped for.
Relationships: Female Sole Survivor/Nick Valentine, Sole Survivor/Nick Valentine
Kudos: 47





	Diamond City Confessional

We stepped out onto the balcony, half-shadowed by the nearby building and the sun's evening height. Nick lingered an uncharacteristically long time at the door as he shut it behind him. Then he seemed to give himself a push and stepped away. We stood side by side and looked out over the little city for a time, letting the sounds of people fill the silence. I grew more curious with each passing second. My heart was pounding something fierce.

Eventually, Nick spoke.

"So..." he began, glancing sideways at me - then stopped, seeming confused. "Well, now, that's strange," he muttered. "I had it all saved away, and now it's gone."

He turned away from me, muttering to himself under his simulated breath something about computer memory and forgetfulness, seeming to grow increasingly flustered. I stared at him with concern.

"Nick? What's gone?"

Nick looked up. "Oh. Uh - well, it's..." Nick was a man whose hands did a little talking of their own, but now he was half-flailing them about as he emoted half-starts and pieces of unfinished thoughts. "Well, I, uh... I had already thought up what I was gonna say. Had the whole thing all planned out in my head. And now I can't remember a damn thing, not one bit of it." He looked at the ground, obviously warring with himself inside. I was fighting my own battle - imagining every possible thing he might have brought me up here to talk about. I had hopes and fears. It had my heart flying a mile a minute.

"You'll remember," I said awkwardly. Nick just shook his head.

"Nah. No, I won't. It's already fled the country. Ah, well. Damn."

"Well, do you remember what it was about?"

He barked a laugh. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I do."

A moment passed. Nick smiled to himself and I glanced fleetingly from him to the city and back.

"You ever have to work up the courage to say something to someone that really ought to hear it?" Nick asked.

It was my turn to bark a laugh. "You have no idea."

"Fantastic. Then you know how uncomfortable this is."

Uncomfortable? I was so uncomfortable that I leapt at the chance to lighten the mood with over-the-top sarcasm. But my nervousness - my hope - leapt at the chance to make an opening, too.

"What, are you working up the courage to tell me something, Valentine?" I teased. I puffed up like a model, hands on my hips, thrusting out my chest and tossing back my head. "Like how brainy and beautiful you think I am?"

"Among other things," he said quietly.

My mouth opened for a retort, but I stopped short. Somewhere in my brain it registered that he wasn't bantering with me. My model pose deflated slowly. I breathed only shallow breaths.

Nick's look was nervous, almost shy - his eyes darted away from me and back, never lingering too long, always hiding under the brim of his hat. "Listen. You're... incredible. You're..." He paused, struggling. "I'd sing your praises and all, but that's like trying to describe the sun while you're looking right at it. All you can think is, 'Damn, that's bright.' But the sun is a lot more than that. A whole lot more."

My brain was firing off so many reactions at once that the only response I could give was a breathless, "Wow." I sucked down some more air and swallowed. "Wow, Nick. You're gonna have to give me a second. I don't really know what to say."

Nick plucked at the brim of his hat, clearing his throat. "Sure, sure. Join the club."

We stood in silence for a few moments, listening to the city sounds on the wind. Every once and a while I caught Takashi's Japanese greeting. My heart was soaring. I realized that I was smiling wide and didn't try to stop. Wow. Wow! I turned and smiled directly at Nick, and he broke into his own little grin with small nervous laugh.

"This is so much easier for those... detectives in those movies Nick used to watch," he told me. "Those guys knew exactly what to say to make a girl go weak in the knees for 'em."

I stopped him. "Yeah, but, life isn't like the movies. Those guys were actors, and behind them they had writers coming up with the best things to say. Are you a writer, Nick?"

"Can't say I am."

"Right. And I never was any good at acting."

"No - you and I, we're both too honest for that."

We exchanged an amused glance. When our eyes met, there was a sense of knowing, of something just on the edge of intimacy. Nick stepped closer to me and gently took my hand in both of his. "I think the world of you," he said. There was growing confidence in his voice. My heart swelled until it felt like butterflies were halfway up my throat.

"I think the world of you, too, Nick." I rested my free hand on his arm and drew a little closer. "There's no one I'd rather be running around this crazy post-apocalyptic earth with."

"Well, goodness. What a compliment."

"I'm serious, Nick." Absently, I tugged at his tie. "I trust you. I put my life in your hands on practically an hourly basis and you pull through for me every time. I don't know where I'd be without you. I don't know what I'd do."

"You know, I feel the same way," Nick mused. "You're one hell of a partner. One hell of a woman, too."

"And you're one hell of a man."

"Even if I'm not a real man?"

I looked into those yellow LED-lit eyes and saw the depth of the soul behind them. I saw the kindness of the spirit living under the layer of false skin stretched over his crookedly grinning lips and colorless cheeks. Behind the metal and wire, I saw a person. And I loved him.

"You're a real man to me," I said.

Something in his eyes changed. He looked at me deeply, seeming moved beyond words, and he stepped forward and pulled me into an intimate embrace. I wrapped my arms around him and leaned my head on his shoulder - it didn't yield under the cloth of his coat as flesh would have, but it felt right. Holding him, him holding me, felt very right. A sense of contentment washed over me.

We stayed like that for a long time.


End file.
